Add to ORKGEnvironmental Writing and Great Lakes LiteratureLater that day, Mark led us to his house in the small town of Pinos Altos. While dinner cooked, we sat outside and stared out at the same forest we had been overlooking just a few hours earlier. Now we could hear the birds singing and the bees buzzing. The pine trees loomed over our heads, and mountains rose up in the distance out of the darkening blue sky. I rocked back and forth in my chair and let my thoughts wander. For the past two years I had been stuck inside myself. I wasn’t happy. I had become dull and inert, and because of that, I had lost my creativity and passion for learning. Reflecting on the trip though, I came to realize that there is so much to be inspired by in nature. I saw ...